Metal studs are commonly used today to form non-load bearing walls in building structures. In a typical installation, the metal studs are secured by screws at their lower ends to a bottom track secured to a floor and at their upper ends to a top track secured to overhead joists which may form the framework for an upper floor. Wall boards or other panels are applied to the sides of the studs to form a closed wall structure. A problem with this arrangement is that deflection of the overhead joists under loads is translated into vertical loads acting on the studs. These vertical loads may cause bowing or other flexing of the metal studs which may cause the walls to crack or otherwise be flawed or damaged.
Deflection track wall systems heretofore have been used to combat the problem of wall bowing and/or cracking arising from overhead loads being applied to the vertical studs in a non-load bearing wall. Three known deflection track wall systems are the crimped track system, the double track system, and the track and brace system.
In the crimped stud system, the top track has a horizontal crimp in each flange thereof. This permits relative vertical movement between the upper and lower portions of each flange of the top track. Accordingly, the metal studs can be fastened to the lower portions of the flanges of the top track while the crimps in the flanges accommodate vertical deflections of the overhead structure to which the web of the top track is secured.
In the double track system, two top tracks are nested one within the other. The larger or upper track is attached to the overhead joists or other overhead structure. The smaller or lower track is nested within the larger track and has attached thereto the upper ends of the metal studs. There is a gap between the webs of the two tracks that permits vertical movement of the larger track without corresponding movement of the smaller track.
The track and brace system uses a horizontal brace which spans two or more metal studs. The brace extends through a conduit hole in the web of each metal stud and is fastened to an L-shape clip that in turn is fastened to the stud. The brace eliminates the need to fasten the upper ends of the metal studs to the top track which is then free to move vertically without imparting vertical loads in the metal studs.
The installation of metal stud wall systems, including deflection track wall systems, heretofore has been a time consuming process. In a typical installation where the metal studs are fastened at their upper ends to a top track or channel, the attachment positions of the studs are marked off along the top track. Then each stud is fastened to each flange of the top track by screws. Often a ladder must be used because the top track is too high for the installer to reach. The installer climbs the ladder and fastens as many studs as he can reach to the near flange of the top track. Then he must climb down the ladder, move the ladder along the wall so that when he again climbs the ladder he can reach the next one or more studs for fastening to the top track. After doing this along one side of the wall, the process is repeated on the other side of the wall to fasten the studs to the other flange of the top track. A similar process is used to install a track and brace wall system, except that the fastening positions of the metal studs are usually marked off along the brace. Also, only one pass is needed to fasten the stud clips to the brace. Although less time consuming in these respects, the time savings is more than offset by the time expenditure or cost associated with fastening the stud clips to the metal studs.